What others have said about
Hon. Dale S. Fischer

Comments

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: 21662
Rating:2.0 Comments:
This judge allowed the IRS a summary judgment dismissing my EEO case, which was based on discrimination/non-selection due to a history of breast cancer. She did not consider any of my arguments, and basically gave the case away to the IRS, acting as judge and jury -- exceeding her position as judge. She is definitely pro-big business/big government. She does not consider the rights of the little guy who has been beaten down by a big employer. Avoid her if you have a labor law/EEO case.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 21309
Rating:2.0 Comments:
This judge -- not to put too fine a point on it -- sucks big time. She decides who she wants to win before the trial, and then ignores the arguments of the side she does not like. She looks back for evidence of her pre-conclusion.

Other

Comment #: 20935
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
She displayed bias in front of the jury, was disrespectful to the defendant, and gave the defendant an exceedingly harsh sentence. She is not known as "The Hammer" for nothing!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Litigant

Comment #: 20799
Rating:9.0 Comments:
Despite the negative comments that I have read, I see Judge Fischer as a fair, reasonable, and tough judge who commands respect from attorneys and litigants. She is not "bought and sold" by large law firms and she is not afraid to render her strong opinion. She is very fair to pro per litigants. I wish there were more judges like her.

Litigant

Comment #: 13828
Rating:9.0 Comments:
Extraordinary intellect. Willing to acknowledge any errors and render justice. Judge Fischer would have my respect regardless of how she rules, because I know her decisions are not biased, but fsir and well reasoned.

Probation or Pretrial Officer

Comment #: 9944
Rating:4.0 Comments:
She is a workhorse, for sure. She is also a finicky despot, and perhaps the only federal judge universally reviled by the parties, probation officers, pre-trial services officers and most of her colleagues.

Civil Litigation - Private

Other

Comment #: 8908
Rating:10.0 Comments:
Well I must say that the Honorable Judge Fischer is smart, considerate & I really like her. She has always been nice to me in her courtroom. She even took my extensive medical conditions into consideration and was fair and good to me. She is only strict when it’s needed. I thank GOD she was my judge on earth. I understand what the below lawyer wrote about peoples feelings with sentencing. I suffered many many months waiting for it. But on the other side you must consider what The Honorable Judge Fischer deals with every day. While I was there for my sentencing I had to wait for others to get sentenced. That’s when I saw first hand what she does for a living. She had to deal with violent criminals, illegal alien criminals, hardened criminals etc. Can you imagine doing this every day? Thank GOD for her and all other judges for having to do this for the safety of our society. I am very grateful that she saw that I did not deserve jail and gave me probation. And I am also very grateful to the Prosecutors, the FBI , Pretrial & Probation folks as well. They were and are very nice to me. ... I thank GOD every day this ordeal is almost over.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: 8621
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I'm a product of law school and a product of the legal mind. This legal training and experience seems to harden everyone's hearts. After time, it seems so much easier to simply tune them out and just be 'strict' and say 'who cares,' we need law and order and so or so should have known.

If only a Judge can step into the eyes of a family member or a defendant waiting for his sentence... then she will know how much every day of an extra sentence can truly mean or feel.

The law is never fairly applied. Those whom are picked up for a crime are merely the unlucky ones picked off to be made examples of. The entire criminal process, from arrest (FBI raiding the family's home) to the torturous process of waiting on the unknown, dealing with public stigma, dealing with constant prying and invasion of privacy... is punishment enough.

The one that made a mistake -- and his/or her family is no less human than everyone else. Like everyone else, they are only trying to survive.

Other

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 6268
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Consistently biased in favor of corporate defendants and the government, and writes opinions that disguise her biases better than some of her other very conservative colleagues.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 6117
Rating:5.8 Comments:
Judge Fischer, though smart and focused, is, in my opinion, one of the most biased judges I've come across. I echo the other write-up: she's heartless. She went out of her way to accomodate the government in a FTCA case, and I would recommend caution to anyone who steps in her courtroom, representing either a private litigant against the United States or a criminal defendant. I lost some faith in the system after crossing her path. I hestitated to write this, but felt that this had to be said. Again, this is simply my opinion.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 4968
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Fischer got on the federal bench by demonstrating toughness when as a state court judge she presided over football star Jim Brown's spousal assault case, putting him in jail. Though that was a correct thing to have done, on the federal bench the only way to describe her is as heartless. She is so heartless that it overshadows any good qualities she has. She could become a good judge were she to find a heart, but it probably is too late for that.

Civil Litigation - Private

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: 1639
Rating:3.5 Comments:
I did my first criminal sentencing in 1989. 17 years later and many judges, both federal and state, I had a client sentenced by this judge. I have never dealt with a judge with such an absence of compassion and fairness. Despite an agreement between client and government that 51 months was a reasonable sentence, which Probation concurred with, she imposed 90 months. She did so without compunction and by totally ignoring any mitigating factors and arguments. In fact, she seemed irritated that I argued for my client and impatient to get to a result that she had predetermined, despite my lengthy sentencing brief and additional argument. A truly lamentable choice for a judge, she'd have been better suited to working as an executioner.